Eric Crawford | Kentucky football out of their league in SEC

With all the talk of conference realignment, there's a different problem at the University of Kentucky.

Getting aligned with the conference it's already in.

UK's football team shares a conference with the University of Florida. But let's be honest: They're not in the same league.

Even with UK seizing some early momentum in Saturday night's game in Commonwealth Stadium, Florida led 21-0 before UK's Craig McIntosh kicked a 24-yard field goal to end the first quarter.

They were the Wildcats' first points in the first quarter against Florida since 2007, breaking a string of 94 straight first-quarter points by the Gators.

Florida's winning streak over UK grew to 25 games with Saturday's 48-10 victory. And the past four have not been close. Florida has averaged 50 points, UK nine.

The last time UK looked ready to deal with Florida was in a 45-37 loss in Lexington on Oct. 13, 2007, one game after its upset of No. 1 LSU. "College GameDay" was in town. The Wildcats were ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press poll.

Four weeks later they were out of the poll, and come this Nov. 11 the program likely will mark its fourth anniversary since its last poll appearance.

Everyone in college sports has been consumed with conference realignment for the past couple of weeks. Nine out of 10 teams in the nation would leave their homes, wives and families to be a part of the Southeastern Conference.

But in a league where football ranks Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in order of importance, UK has finished better than fourth in its six-team division only twice in 19 years. Since the SEC went to divisions in 1992, it has never finished higher than third.

Through its school-record bowl streak, through the excitement of 2007, through the high-octane of Hal Mumme, halfway up the ladder is as far as it has gotten.

That doesn't mean UK has been bad for all that time. There are a lot of schools that aren't in Florida's league most years. The degree of difficulty is hard to overstate.

But barring an off-the-wall decision to literally get out of Florida's league, UK at some point is going to have to realize that it has to do things differently -- maybe everything differently.

The SEC is expanding. And it isn't adding programs who will be below UK in the football pecking order. SEC life isn't getting easier. And the mood of those fans still left in Commonwealth Stadium at the end of Saturday's game wasn't getting any rosier.

Everybody knew this season was going to be uphill before it started. A blowout loss to Florida isn't a red-flag game -- but the loss to Louisville was a red flag, and the lackluster wins over Western Kentucky and Central Michigan were.

And the SEC is no place to try to get back on the right track. The SEC is a weekly derailment. The Wildcats are at LSU next week, at South Carolina the week after. What may define this season is how well they bounce back from those two.

This is a team in desperate need of somebody to make a big play, create a break, then have the emotion and leadership to rally his teammates around it.

Unfortunately, that guy is playing for the Green Bay Packers. And nobody has stepped into Randall Cobb's role.

"For five minutes in the game," UK coach Joker Phillips said, "we looked like a good football team."

Five minutes won't get it. In any league.

Louisville, Kentucky • Southern Indiana

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Eric Crawford | Kentucky football out of their league in SEC

With all the talk of conference realignment, there's a different problem at the University of Kentucky. Getting aligned with the conference it's already in. UK's football team shares a conference